North Korea, International Law and the Dual Crises ─ Narrative and Constructive Engagement

This utilizes a unique international law perspective to examine the actions and inactions of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in regard to international security and human rights concerns in North Korea. The book will demonstrate how the two issues of nuclear weapons and the human rights abuses in North Korea are interconnected and why the international community should be applying the same international law framework to each to find a solution for both. The book analyses the North Korea’s nuclear weapons situation from political, military, historical and legal angles examining the DPRK’s policy objectives involving international security and Korean unification. The book goes on to explore the human rights abuses inflicted on the North Korean people by their own government and which include extermination, torture, and crimes of association, as well as collective retribution inside and outside its system of concentration camps.

The book investigates the North Korean situation with a view towards redress through an international framework. North Korea’s gross and systematic violations of human rights and defiant military actions through specific violations of international law are assessed including the contravention of the treaties that North Korea itself has ratified, to provide a proper foundation for redressing these international crimes through a tribunal. The specific objectives and actions of the North Korean government are analyzed according to applicable treaty law, jus cogens norms, customary international law, and other types of international legal obligations. It pinpoints the sources and underpinnings of the regional nuclear crisis and offer solutions for dealing with international security surrounding the Korean Peninsula. The book puts forward a proposal for the creation of a tribunal to prosecute those at the top of the regime for international crimes and human rights abuses after a reunification of the peninsula.